Conergy Group announces positive profits for first time in three years, as sales in foreign markets double

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In France, Spain and Australia, the company says that sales more than doubled, in comparison to the same period last year. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) also showed improvement, by €67.8m to €25.8 million. Consequently, the company says it is profitable again in terms of earnings after taxes for the first time in three years.

In total, second quarter sales increased to reach €239.4 million. This means, says the company, that it was able to improve sales by approximately 50 percent compared to the prior-year quarter, or by 60 percent compared to the first quarter of this year. The main driver of this trend, it explains, was the broad global demand for solar technology, especially in Germany over the past few months.

It adds that a further increase in demand for its self-manufactured products, helped to more than triple its gross profit from €18.2 million to €58.9 million – and record a margin of 24.6 percent in this reporting period. As a result, EBITDA stood at €18.5 million, in comparison to the previous year’s figure of €-22.9m. “This means that Conergy has been back in the black in operating terms for three quarters in a row,” said the company in a statement. “The solar company improved its EBIT by €40 million to €11.7 million. In the prior-year quarter it recorded a loss of €28.3 million. The company’s improved sales performance and increased profitability led to earnings after taxes from continuing operations turning positive again for the first time in the second quarter." This figure stood at €7.9 million (Q2 2009: €-33.2m).

The most important positive effect on the system manufacturer’s business, says the company, in the first half of the year came from increased sales of self-produced components. It continues by saying that there has been a particular demand from investors for its Power Plus premium modules from its plant in Frankfurt (Oder). In total, the systems manufacturer says it has been able to increase the proportion of its own components in large-scale solar farms by 56 percent within one year – the new strategy of focusing on self-manufactured products and integrated Conergy systems technology with finely tuned components is paying dividends, it explains.

Due to the further increase in capacity utilization at the module plant in Frankfurt (Oder), and based on the positive development of an overall market which continues to grow, Conergy announced that it raised its EBITDA forecast for the whole of this year to €30-40 million. Previously the company had estimated a positive EBITDA result in the low tens of millions.

“For the first time our bottom-line result is back in the black again as well,” said Conergy CEO Dieter Ammer. “This result shows that, thanks to our restructuring program, we have been able to get our costs structure well under control whilst still increasing sales. We are competitive once more – and thanks to our diversified, international structure, we are also ideally positioned for the future challenges of the market.”

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